1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:05,300 I hope you have your Bible open at Hebrews in chapter four. 2 00:00:05,300 –> 00:00:10,900 We’re also going to be looking at Revelation and chapter eight in the course of this message. 3 00:00:10,900 –> 00:00:16,420 So two passages today that contribute to our understanding of a great truth that is going 4 00:00:16,420 –> 00:00:19,559 to help us in regards to prayer. 5 00:00:19,559 –> 00:00:27,240 In this three week series, we’re really looking at three gifts that have the power 6 00:00:27,340 –> 00:00:32,759 to transform the prayer life of any Christian believer. 7 00:00:32,759 –> 00:00:38,980 We began last week by recognizing that for millions of people, prayer is the most tedious 8 00:00:38,980 –> 00:00:40,299 business. 9 00:00:40,299 –> 00:00:47,520 It really is little more than an uncertain attempt to communicate with an unknown God. 10 00:00:47,520 –> 00:00:55,020 We saw that that is transformed when you come to know, through Jesus Christ, that God is 11 00:00:55,180 –> 00:00:58,060 your loving Heavenly Father. 12 00:00:58,060 –> 00:01:03,320 God speaks to us using this amazing analogy, because it’s one that we can all understand. 13 00:01:03,320 –> 00:01:07,559 You think of what a child means to a father. 14 00:01:07,559 –> 00:01:10,779 You think of what a child means to a mother. 15 00:01:10,779 –> 00:01:13,339 You think of the affection. 16 00:01:13,339 –> 00:01:15,459 You think of the bond. 17 00:01:15,459 –> 00:01:20,440 What would a father or a mother not do for their own child? 18 00:01:20,919 –> 00:01:25,699 In Jesus Christ God has become your loving Heavenly Father. 19 00:01:25,699 –> 00:01:28,860 He has this affection for you. 20 00:01:28,860 –> 00:01:31,279 He has this joy in you. 21 00:01:31,279 –> 00:01:38,360 He delights when you come into his presence, and the more deeply that you can take in this 22 00:01:38,360 –> 00:01:43,639 marvelous truth and reality that is yours in Jesus Christ, the more that the truth of 23 00:01:43,639 –> 00:01:47,879 God, your loving Heavenly Father, is real and alive and fresh and present in your mind 24 00:01:47,879 –> 00:01:51,080 and your heart, the more you will have a desire to pray. 25 00:01:51,080 –> 00:01:52,300 That’s simply how it is. 26 00:01:52,300 –> 00:01:57,839 This is a transforming gift, the knowledge that God is your loving Heavenly Father. 27 00:01:57,839 –> 00:02:02,519 So that’s where we were last week and we take it up again today at this point. 28 00:02:02,519 –> 00:02:10,339 Now, as soon as you have the desire to pray, you are immediately going to be confronted 29 00:02:10,339 –> 00:02:15,259 by two problems that every Christian experiences. 30 00:02:15,259 –> 00:02:19,820 The first of these is a sense of your own unworthiness. 31 00:02:19,820 –> 00:02:24,539 When you get to the point where you actually want to pray, it will occur to you, yeah, 32 00:02:24,539 –> 00:02:25,580 but wait a minute. 33 00:02:25,580 –> 00:02:27,919 Who am I to speak to God? 34 00:02:27,919 –> 00:02:33,300 What right do I have to ask anything from Him? 35 00:02:33,300 –> 00:02:39,360 It might come to your mind that the Bible says, The prayer of a righteous man is powerful 36 00:02:39,360 –> 00:02:44,940 and effective, and you might then think, well, that means someone else had better be doing 37 00:02:45,000 –> 00:02:50,039 the praying rather than me because I don’t really feel that I fit that description very 38 00:02:50,039 –> 00:02:51,339 much at all. 39 00:02:51,339 –> 00:02:58,080 And so the first problem that comes to us, and it’s a very real one, is a sense of our 40 00:02:58,080 –> 00:02:59,240 own unworthiness. 41 00:02:59,240 –> 00:03:02,479 Who am I to ask anything from God? 42 00:03:02,479 –> 00:03:07,380 The second problem that you face when you have a desire to pray is that you will begin 43 00:03:07,380 –> 00:03:11,520 very quickly to feel the weakness of your own prayers. 44 00:03:12,119 –> 00:03:17,479 Now you come to church and you hear Pastor Josh leading us in prayer, and you may have 45 00:03:17,479 –> 00:03:23,220 the sense, well, you know, when he speaks to God, he seems to know what to say. 46 00:03:23,220 –> 00:03:29,559 But when I pray, I feel like I’m stumbling around and my prayer seems pitiful to me, 47 00:03:29,559 –> 00:03:36,740 and I can’t imagine that my prayer actually carries any weight with Almighty God at all. 48 00:03:36,779 –> 00:03:43,000 So these are the two problems that every Christian faces when you actually have a desire to pray, 49 00:03:43,000 –> 00:03:47,520 you’re confronted with a sense of your own unworthiness, and you are confronted with 50 00:03:47,520 –> 00:03:54,339 a sense of the inadequacy, the weakness, the apparent ineffectiveness of your own prayers. 51 00:03:54,339 –> 00:03:57,500 Now how are you going to get over these hurdles? 52 00:03:57,500 –> 00:04:03,100 You’ve got to be able to get over these if you are actually going to pray. 53 00:04:03,100 –> 00:04:04,199 And that’s the focus today. 54 00:04:04,199 –> 00:04:09,880 We’re going to look at how you get over these two problems that immediately confront a person 55 00:04:09,880 –> 00:04:12,619 who has the desire to pray. 56 00:04:12,619 –> 00:04:17,600 Now look with me then at Hebrews 4.16, if you would. 57 00:04:17,600 –> 00:04:24,399 Because you’ll see there that this verse directly addresses what we’ve just spoken of. 58 00:04:24,399 –> 00:04:34,660 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy 59 00:04:34,660 –> 00:04:38,540 and find grace to help in time of need. 60 00:04:38,540 –> 00:04:47,559 So you see, the writer to Hebrews is speaking about Christians coming to God with confidence. 61 00:04:47,559 –> 00:04:52,260 And the people who are coming to God with confidence are people who, according to this 62 00:04:52,380 –> 00:04:54,839 verse know that they need mercy. 63 00:04:54,839 –> 00:04:56,440 That’s us. 64 00:04:56,440 –> 00:05:02,040 And know that we need a whole lot of help, we need grace to help us in our time of need. 65 00:05:02,040 –> 00:05:06,760 Now when you know that you need mercy, and when you know that you need a whole lot of 66 00:05:06,760 –> 00:05:13,619 help, how is it then that you can come with confidence before God as opposed to feeling 67 00:05:13,619 –> 00:05:17,279 that you’re always pulling back because of your own sense of unworthiness. 68 00:05:17,279 –> 00:05:25,079 The answer to that question is in verse 14, since we have a great high priest. 69 00:05:25,079 –> 00:05:28,019 Here’s how you can come with confidence. 70 00:05:28,019 –> 00:05:32,519 Since verse 14, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens. 71 00:05:32,519 –> 00:05:34,779 That is, Jesus, the Son of God. 72 00:05:34,779 –> 00:05:40,160 Verse 16, let us then with confidence draw near. 73 00:05:40,160 –> 00:05:42,640 So you see what these wonderful verses are saying. 74 00:05:42,640 –> 00:05:46,220 Jesus Christ has passed through the heavens. 75 00:05:46,239 –> 00:05:50,579 Jesus Christ is your great High Priest. 76 00:05:50,579 –> 00:05:56,739 Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father, and he’s there for you. 77 00:05:56,739 –> 00:05:59,519 And knowing this will give you confidence. 78 00:05:59,519 –> 00:06:04,859 Let us then with confidence draw near to come to God in prayer. 79 00:06:06,079 –> 00:06:13,579 Now in the big picture of what is ours in the Lord Jesus Christ, you might find it helpful 80 00:06:13,579 –> 00:06:21,880 to remember that there is a completed work that Jesus Christ has done for us in the past. 81 00:06:21,880 –> 00:06:27,799 There’s a continuing work that Jesus Christ does for us right now and everyday, and there’s 82 00:06:27,799 –> 00:06:32,619 a coming work that Jesus Christ will do for us in the future. 83 00:06:32,619 –> 00:06:39,859 Now many Christians, most Christians are very clear about the completed work of the Lord 84 00:06:39,859 –> 00:06:40,859 Jesus Christ. 85 00:06:40,859 –> 00:06:44,500 That of course is when He died on the cross for our sins. 86 00:06:44,500 –> 00:06:46,839 You remember He said then, it is finished. 87 00:06:46,839 –> 00:06:49,220 A completed work. 88 00:06:49,220 –> 00:06:56,540 His work of making a sacrifice for sins, giving Himself as the sacrifice for sins, is complete. 89 00:06:56,540 –> 00:07:01,899 That’s why there’s no need for any other sacrifice for sins to be made ever. 90 00:07:01,899 –> 00:07:03,320 It’s done. 91 00:07:03,320 –> 00:07:07,100 That’s the completed work of Jesus Christ on the cross. 92 00:07:07,140 –> 00:07:11,440 I think that many Christians too are quite clear about the coming work of the Lord Jesus 93 00:07:11,440 –> 00:07:12,920 Christ in the future. 94 00:07:12,920 –> 00:07:18,459 That revolves around of course His return in power and in glory. 95 00:07:18,459 –> 00:07:20,980 When He’s going to gather all of the redeemed. 96 00:07:20,980 –> 00:07:23,480 Our souls will be made perfect. 97 00:07:23,480 –> 00:07:27,880 And then our perfected souls will be clothed with resurrection bodies. 98 00:07:27,880 –> 00:07:32,079 This tired old world is going to be wound up and brought to judgment. 99 00:07:32,079 –> 00:07:37,079 God is going to bring in a new heaven, and a new earth, a new creation that will be the 100 00:07:37,079 –> 00:07:42,880 home of righteousness and there will be no more sickness, and there will be no more sorrow 101 00:07:42,880 –> 00:07:46,399 and no more dying and no more pain. 102 00:07:46,399 –> 00:07:52,760 So I think most Christians are clear about the completed work of Jesus in the past and 103 00:07:52,760 –> 00:07:56,239 the coming work of Jesus in the future. 104 00:07:56,239 –> 00:08:00,420 I think that many Christians are actually a lot less clear about what Jesus Christ is 105 00:08:00,420 –> 00:08:02,899 doing now. 106 00:08:03,299 –> 00:08:09,579 So, what is Jesus Christ, your Savior and your Lord, actually doing right now? 107 00:08:09,579 –> 00:08:13,100 His continuing work today. 108 00:08:13,100 –> 00:08:18,279 And the answer to that is summed up in one wonderful word in the New Testament that Jesus 109 00:08:18,279 –> 00:08:20,899 Christ is interceding for us. 110 00:08:20,899 –> 00:08:22,640 That’s what He’s doing right now. 111 00:08:22,640 –> 00:08:25,859 Let me show you this in two wonderful verses of Scripture. 112 00:08:25,859 –> 00:08:28,739 The first is Hebrews chapter seven and verse twenty-five. 113 00:08:29,739 –> 00:08:35,179 It tells us that Jesus is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through 114 00:08:35,179 –> 00:08:43,659 Him, since, here’s how he’s able to save us completely, He always lives to make intercession 115 00:08:43,659 –> 00:08:46,119 for them. 116 00:08:46,119 –> 00:08:51,159 So for anyone who comes to God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, what Jesus is doing 117 00:08:51,159 –> 00:08:53,039 today is, he’s always living. 118 00:08:53,039 –> 00:08:58,000 This is what he’s doing right now, to make intercession for us. 119 00:08:58,020 –> 00:09:03,799 That same wonderful truth is also stated in Romans chapter eight in verse 34, where we 120 00:09:03,820 –> 00:09:10,020 read that Jesus who died, more than that, who was raised to life, he is at the right 121 00:09:10,020 –> 00:09:11,520 hand of the father. 122 00:09:11,520 –> 00:09:19,520 He’s at the right hand of God, and he is interceding, same word again, for us. 123 00:09:20,039 –> 00:09:29,599 Now to intercede literally means to stand in the gap or to move or pass between, and 124 00:09:29,599 –> 00:09:32,239 this is Christ’s continuing work. 125 00:09:32,239 –> 00:09:34,840 This is what he does right now. 126 00:09:34,840 –> 00:09:44,239 He stands, as it were, between us and the Father, bringing us to the Father and holding 127 00:09:44,239 –> 00:09:48,599 us in relationship with him. 128 00:09:48,599 –> 00:09:52,000 And the Bible says he’s always doing this. 129 00:09:52,000 –> 00:09:57,859 He is interceding for us, standing between us and the Father, and bringing us and sustaining 130 00:09:57,859 –> 00:10:01,679 us in relationship with the Father. 131 00:10:01,679 –> 00:10:02,780 He lives for this. 132 00:10:02,780 –> 00:10:05,739 He always lives to make intercession for us. 133 00:10:05,739 –> 00:10:07,580 This is the life of the Lord Jesus. 134 00:10:07,580 –> 00:10:09,119 This is what he is doing. 135 00:10:09,119 –> 00:10:16,340 There is never a moment when Jesus Christ is not actively engaged in sustaining your 136 00:10:16,340 –> 00:10:21,559 relationship with the Father, as he’s there in the presence of the Father, at his right 137 00:10:21,559 –> 00:10:24,239 hand in heaven for you. 138 00:10:24,239 –> 00:10:35,260 Now, if you think about how a completed work flows into a continuing work, a good illustration 139 00:10:35,260 –> 00:10:39,500 of that I think is the experience of a mother. 140 00:10:39,500 –> 00:10:50,260 So here motherhood involves an initial and very painful act of bringing a child to birth. 141 00:10:50,260 –> 00:10:58,780 But when that work is complete, the child has been brought to birth, the mother’s work 142 00:10:58,780 –> 00:11:00,900 is only begun. 143 00:11:01,280 –> 00:11:10,719 The completed and not repeated act is it leads into a continuing ministry, a continuing 144 00:11:10,719 –> 00:11:12,099 work of the mother, which is what? 145 00:11:12,099 –> 00:11:15,460 It is to supply all the needs of the child. 146 00:11:15,460 –> 00:11:21,820 Everything that the child needs to grow into maturity, the dependence upon the mother, 147 00:11:21,820 –> 00:11:24,960 the mother’s work is never done. 148 00:11:24,960 –> 00:11:28,760 Think about the saviorhood of the Lord Jesus. 149 00:11:28,760 –> 00:11:35,000 Christ becomes the Savior through a never to be repeated agonizing work that is on the 150 00:11:35,000 –> 00:11:36,000 cross. 151 00:11:36,000 –> 00:11:37,000 That’s done. 152 00:11:37,000 –> 00:11:41,440 But His completed work has led into His continuing ministry, which is what? 153 00:11:41,440 –> 00:11:46,500 Supplying all that His children need from here to eternity. 154 00:11:46,500 –> 00:11:48,419 And this is what He’s always engaged in. 155 00:11:48,419 –> 00:11:50,039 He’s at the right hand of the Father. 156 00:11:50,039 –> 00:11:54,320 He’s always interceding for us. 157 00:11:54,320 –> 00:12:02,000 He’s taking what He achieved in His death, and He’s implementing it through His life. 158 00:12:02,000 –> 00:12:07,640 And this is His continuing ministry on behalf of everyone of His people in the presence 159 00:12:07,640 –> 00:12:09,700 of God. 160 00:12:09,700 –> 00:12:17,840 So when, for example, the Apostle Paul says, I can do all things through Christ who gives 161 00:12:17,840 –> 00:12:23,239 me strength, present tense, gives me strength. 162 00:12:23,380 –> 00:12:28,099 He’s actually reflecting the intercessory ministry of Jesus, that Jesus is at the right 163 00:12:28,099 –> 00:12:33,440 hand of the Father and that His continuing work is to give all of His children everything 164 00:12:33,440 –> 00:12:37,080 that is needed from here to eternity. 165 00:12:37,080 –> 00:12:40,520 And here’s Paul, and he needs strength for a particular situation. 166 00:12:40,520 –> 00:12:43,359 Christ gives strength. 167 00:12:43,359 –> 00:12:50,039 It is because Christ is at the right hand of the Father for you that all that you need 168 00:12:50,080 –> 00:12:55,340 to get from here to eternity will be supplied because He lives for that very purpose. 169 00:12:55,340 –> 00:13:03,900 He is always at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us, and this wonderful truth 170 00:13:03,900 –> 00:13:11,599 is well stated in Romans 5 and verse 10 where we read these words, that if while we were 171 00:13:11,599 –> 00:13:18,500 God’s enemies we were reconciled to Him by the death of His Son, how much more now, having 172 00:13:18,500 –> 00:13:21,460 been reconciled, shall we be saved. 173 00:13:21,460 –> 00:13:26,619 In other words, be brought from here to eternity through His life. 174 00:13:26,619 –> 00:13:33,780 The way I like to say this very simply is Jesus died to save you and Jesus lives to 175 00:13:33,780 –> 00:13:36,559 keep you, and that’s what gives confidence, you see. 176 00:13:36,559 –> 00:13:39,900 You don’t know what you’re going to face tomorrow, next week or next year, but whatever 177 00:13:39,900 –> 00:13:45,619 it is, you have a great high priest and he’s at the right hand of the Father, and he ensures 178 00:13:45,700 –> 00:13:50,239 that every one of His children has everything that we need from here to eternity so that 179 00:13:50,239 –> 00:13:52,979 having died to save us, He lives to keep us. 180 00:13:52,979 –> 00:13:55,619 And this is Jesus, Our Great High Priest. 181 00:13:55,619 –> 00:13:57,820 This is what He’s doing now. 182 00:13:57,820 –> 00:14:05,580 Now, this is a wonderful truth, but I want to apply it particularly in regards to the 183 00:14:05,580 –> 00:14:14,460 issue of prayer today, and especially in regards to the two problems we identified earlier 184 00:14:14,659 –> 00:14:18,940 that every Christian will face when you get to the point where you actually want to pray. 185 00:14:18,940 –> 00:14:20,200 And what are they? 186 00:14:20,200 –> 00:14:25,520 A sense of your own unworthiness is one, and a sense that your own prayers are weak and 187 00:14:25,520 –> 00:14:28,059 pitiful is the other. 188 00:14:28,059 –> 00:14:35,280 Now, think about how the intercessory ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ speaks to and answers 189 00:14:35,280 –> 00:14:40,039 both of these problems in a way that when you see it, it will be transforming for your 190 00:14:40,039 –> 00:14:41,039 prayers. 191 00:14:41,700 –> 00:14:45,320 Here’s the first thing I want us to see then, by way of application, that Jesus applies 192 00:14:45,320 –> 00:14:51,080 in heaven what he has accomplished on the cross. 193 00:14:51,080 –> 00:14:56,619 On the cross, he accomplished all that is needed for your salvation. 194 00:14:56,619 –> 00:15:04,080 And in heaven, what he’s doing right now is he is daily, hourly, moment-by-moment, applying 195 00:15:04,739 –> 00:15:12,580 has accomplished on the cross, to the actual case and experience of everyone who believes 196 00:15:12,580 –> 00:15:14,159 in him. 197 00:15:14,159 –> 00:15:21,500 He does this by presenting you to the Father as his own. 198 00:15:21,500 –> 00:15:29,200 Now, this is something so wonderful and so beyond our sphere of understanding, that it’s 199 00:15:29,200 –> 00:15:32,239 really quite difficult to get ahold of. 200 00:15:32,320 –> 00:15:38,580 When there’s something really important in the Christian life that difficult to get hold 201 00:15:38,580 –> 00:15:47,239 of, God in his great kindness gives to us pictures that even a child can understand. 202 00:15:47,239 –> 00:15:53,900 Whenever there’s a major building project, one of the things that an architect will do 203 00:15:53,900 –> 00:16:01,400 is he or she will make a model so that people can look at a model of what this building 204 00:16:01,520 –> 00:16:07,200 or this housing scheme or whatever it is, will actually look like when in reality it 205 00:16:07,200 –> 00:16:09,239 is built. 206 00:16:09,239 –> 00:16:18,119 The model is given, presented, so that what is difficult to grasp and understand and to 207 00:16:18,119 –> 00:16:24,640 visualize actually becomes very clear for people to see what the reality will actually 208 00:16:24,640 –> 00:16:26,679 look like when it is built. 209 00:16:26,679 –> 00:16:31,359 Now, that is precisely what God has done for us in regards to this truth that I want to 210 00:16:31,359 –> 00:16:32,760 us to grasp today. 211 00:16:32,760 –> 00:16:42,479 See, back in the Old Testament God commanded Moses to set up a model that would represent 212 00:16:42,479 –> 00:16:47,640 the reality, the wonderful reality, of what happens in heaven in a way that people on 213 00:16:47,640 –> 00:16:50,960 earth could actually understand. 214 00:16:50,960 –> 00:16:56,679 And so what Moses did at the command of God was this—he set up a special space that 215 00:16:56,960 –> 00:17:01,419 designated as the place of the presence of God. 216 00:17:01,419 –> 00:17:06,599 It was a tent-like structure, and it was called the tabernacle. 217 00:17:06,599 –> 00:17:10,699 And God’s people, when they went through the desert, carried this structure around 218 00:17:10,699 –> 00:17:17,439 on poles, and when they set up camp, the tablernacle would have been right at the centre of the 219 00:17:17,439 –> 00:17:21,359 camp with all of the people around it. 220 00:17:21,359 –> 00:17:27,719 And the cloud of God’s presence in those days actually came down into that tent. 221 00:17:27,719 –> 00:17:29,780 So this wasn’t just a kind of symbol. 222 00:17:29,780 –> 00:17:34,520 It really was the case that God’s presence came down to that place. 223 00:17:34,520 –> 00:17:42,640 Now, the tent, the place of God’s presence, was not a place that anyone could go. 224 00:17:42,640 –> 00:17:48,619 So what happened was that there was one person designated to go into the presence of God 225 00:17:48,619 –> 00:17:51,439 on behalf of all the other people. 226 00:17:51,439 –> 00:17:56,920 And that person’s name was The High Priest, that’s what’s referred to in Hebrews and 227 00:17:56,920 –> 00:17:59,780 chapter four. 228 00:17:59,780 –> 00:18:02,479 And The High Priest had two roles. 229 00:18:02,479 –> 00:18:07,400 One was to offer sacrifices and the other was to offer prayers. 230 00:18:07,400 –> 00:18:17,540 And when he went into this place, of the presence of God, he had hanging around his neck a square 231 00:18:17,739 –> 00:18:25,599 plate and into this plate were set twelve stones, precious stones. 232 00:18:26,400 –> 00:18:35,119 And on each of the twelve stones was engraved the name of one of the tribes of Israel. 233 00:18:35,119 –> 00:18:41,079 And so you have this very beautiful picture of someone who goes into the presence of God 234 00:18:41,140 –> 00:18:48,040 where ordinary people can’t go, goes on behalf of other people, and when he goes in there 235 00:18:48,040 –> 00:18:53,619 he actually carries the names of the people on his heart. 236 00:18:53,619 –> 00:19:03,420 That’s the point of the positioning of this plate that was called the breast plate that 237 00:19:03,420 –> 00:19:04,800 a high priest wore. 238 00:19:04,800 –> 00:19:06,880 Now you think how simple that is. 239 00:19:07,719 –> 00:19:13,680 If you’re a father or a mother with a little child in ancient Israel, you would be able 240 00:19:13,680 –> 00:19:23,640 to say even to a young child, we can’t go into the presence of God, but we do have a 241 00:19:23,640 –> 00:19:28,160 person who goes there for us. 242 00:19:28,160 –> 00:19:36,180 And when he goes into the presence of God, he’s actually got our names written on his 243 00:19:36,180 –> 00:19:38,400 heart. 244 00:19:38,400 –> 00:19:41,540 That’s what the high priest did in the model in the Old Testament. 245 00:19:41,540 –> 00:19:43,420 Now, why was that given? 246 00:19:43,420 –> 00:19:48,619 So that we could begin to understand the wonderful reality of what actually happens in heaven. 247 00:19:48,619 –> 00:19:55,959 We have a high priest who’s gone through the heavens, and his name is Jesus. 248 00:19:56,719 –> 00:20:02,339 And he is there in the presence of God for us. 249 00:20:02,339 –> 00:20:09,939 And he has our names, as it were, written on his heart. 250 00:20:09,939 –> 00:20:15,680 And he’s there in heaven for you and for me, applying everything that he accomplished 251 00:20:15,680 –> 00:20:20,380 on the cross, in regards to each of us. 252 00:20:20,619 –> 00:20:27,160 He brings you to the Father so that the Father sees you in him. 253 00:20:27,160 –> 00:20:32,760 Now, Pastor Josh organizes a little group that meets a few times a year, a group of 254 00:20:32,780 –> 00:20:35,060 pastors here at the Orchard. 255 00:20:35,060 –> 00:20:39,099 We choose a book, we all read it, and then we come and have a conversation about it together. 256 00:20:39,099 –> 00:20:45,760 And a few months ago, we had read a book by Mark Jones entitled, Knowing Christ, that 257 00:20:45,760 –> 00:20:50,099 many of us found very helpful, and there was one particular sentence that had struck 258 00:20:50,140 –> 00:20:52,199 all of us when we read it. 259 00:20:52,199 –> 00:20:55,380 It was just freshly said, and here it is. 260 00:20:55,380 –> 00:21:06,739 There is no Christian alive who has not had Jesus Christ speak his or her name to the 261 00:21:06,739 –> 00:21:07,739 Father. 262 00:21:07,739 –> 00:21:10,180 And that’s helpful. 263 00:21:10,180 –> 00:21:13,579 So I want you to put your name in here. 264 00:21:14,140 –> 00:21:23,280 It’s as if Jesus Christ says, I’m here for Henry. 265 00:21:23,300 –> 00:21:24,680 He is mine. 266 00:21:24,680 –> 00:21:32,119 I’m here, Jesus Christ says to the Father, for Tay. 267 00:21:32,119 –> 00:21:33,380 He is mine. 268 00:21:33,380 –> 00:21:40,839 I’m here, the Son of God, the Great High Priest, says to the Father for Heather. 269 00:21:40,839 –> 00:21:42,660 She is mine. 270 00:21:43,660 –> 00:21:50,500 We have a Great High Priest who carries our names on his heart into the presence of the 271 00:21:50,500 –> 00:21:57,739 Father, so that the Father sees us not in our unworthiness, but in his dearly beloved 272 00:21:57,739 –> 00:21:59,339 Son. 273 00:21:59,339 –> 00:22:03,680 I’m so glad that we sang that marvelous hymn that states this so well. 274 00:22:03,680 –> 00:22:09,540 Before the throne of God above I have a strong and a perfect plea. 275 00:22:10,020 –> 00:22:14,060 I don’t need to be holding back because of my sense of unworthiness, because I’ve got 276 00:22:14,060 –> 00:22:16,780 someone who speaks my name. 277 00:22:16,780 –> 00:22:19,140 And He as the Great High Priest and His name is love. 278 00:22:19,140 –> 00:22:22,540 And He always lives to plead for me. 279 00:22:22,540 –> 00:22:25,479 And my name is graven on His hands. 280 00:22:25,479 –> 00:22:29,680 That’s a reference of course to the piercing of the hands of Jesus by these nails when 281 00:22:29,680 –> 00:22:34,699 He died for me and my name is written on his heart. 282 00:22:34,699 –> 00:22:37,219 The completed work is applied for me. 283 00:22:37,260 –> 00:22:43,160 And I am named in it as He is there in the presence of the Father for me. 284 00:22:43,160 –> 00:22:45,839 And I know that while in heaven He stands. 285 00:22:45,839 –> 00:22:48,459 No tongue can bid me thins to part. 286 00:22:48,459 –> 00:22:54,119 No one in all of heaven on earth or hell could ever say to me, you don’t belong in the presence 287 00:22:54,119 –> 00:22:58,920 of God because Jesus Christ, my High Priest is there for me. 288 00:22:58,920 –> 00:23:04,640 Now use that to blast away your sense of unworthiness. 289 00:23:04,640 –> 00:23:10,859 That’s how with confidence you can come before God despite all your feelings of unworthiness, 290 00:23:10,859 –> 00:23:12,459 even when you’re at your worst. 291 00:23:12,459 –> 00:23:13,459 Why? 292 00:23:13,459 –> 00:23:21,979 Because we have a High Priest who’s gone through the heavens and His name is Jesus Christ. 293 00:23:21,979 –> 00:23:28,979 So this marvelous present tense ministry of Jesus is the answer to all of our feelings 294 00:23:28,979 –> 00:23:32,280 of unworthiness that would keep us from drawing near to God. 295 00:23:33,119 –> 00:23:36,819 But I want you to see something else that’s very wonderful that this present tense ministry 296 00:23:36,839 –> 00:23:42,380 of Jesus, the intercessory ministry of Jesus, actually answers the second problem that we 297 00:23:42,380 –> 00:23:47,959 identified here, which is the sense that our own prayers are so pitiful and ineffective 298 00:23:47,959 –> 00:23:50,760 and weak and stumbling and all the rest of it. 299 00:23:50,760 –> 00:23:56,040 I want you to see that in heaven Jesus makes our prayers effective. 300 00:23:56,040 –> 00:24:01,140 Now if you turn over to Revelation chapter 8, I want you to see it here. 301 00:24:01,199 –> 00:24:10,199 What we have here in these verses is like a movie that joins together two scenes, showing 302 00:24:10,199 –> 00:24:15,459 what is happening in heaven and what is happening on earth at the same time. 303 00:24:15,459 –> 00:24:20,599 And so it moves as it were, the camera pans from the one to the other to show us what 304 00:24:20,599 –> 00:24:24,079 happens in heaven when Christians pray on earth. 305 00:24:24,079 –> 00:24:27,739 It’s one of the most encouraging passages to me in all of the Bible with regards to 306 00:24:27,739 –> 00:24:28,979 prayer. 307 00:24:28,979 –> 00:24:31,739 Now look at scene one, which is in heaven. 308 00:24:31,739 –> 00:24:33,520 Revelation 8, 1, the seals are opened. 309 00:24:33,520 –> 00:24:44,239 When the lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 310 00:24:44,239 –> 00:24:47,520 This is drama. 311 00:24:47,520 –> 00:24:52,760 Something that has been sealed up is about to be opened. 312 00:24:52,760 –> 00:24:58,839 Something that nobody would otherwise know is about to be revealed. 313 00:24:58,839 –> 00:25:04,780 And Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is the one who is going to open this seal. 314 00:25:04,780 –> 00:25:10,359 He’s going to pull back the curtain and give us just a little glimpse into what happens 315 00:25:10,359 –> 00:25:14,579 in heaven when Christians pray on earth. 316 00:25:14,579 –> 00:25:25,380 And this is something so stunning that when the seal is about to be opened and the curtain 317 00:25:25,380 –> 00:25:34,819 is about to be taken back, even heaven itself stops in awe and silence and wonder, as seen 318 00:25:34,819 –> 00:25:35,839 one. 319 00:25:35,839 –> 00:25:39,420 Now the camera pans down to earth, and what’s happening on earth? 320 00:25:39,420 –> 00:25:42,959 Verse three, there are Christians who are praying. 321 00:25:42,959 –> 00:25:47,800 Notice the reference there to the prayers of all the saints. 322 00:25:47,800 –> 00:25:52,920 Now in the Bible, as many of you know, the word saint is used to describe every person 323 00:25:52,920 –> 00:25:57,719 who through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has become a child of God and is therefore 324 00:25:57,719 –> 00:26:02,000 indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and these people are praying. 325 00:26:02,000 –> 00:26:03,780 So picture this. 326 00:26:03,780 –> 00:26:07,660 Picture your small group sitting in a circle in the living room where you normally meet 327 00:26:07,660 –> 00:26:11,099 or whatever that is and you’re praying. 328 00:26:11,099 –> 00:26:17,239 Picture your family sitting around the table, and you’re praying, or think about yourself 329 00:26:17,239 –> 00:26:20,479 even when you’re on your own and you’re praying. 330 00:26:21,140 –> 00:26:22,640 whatever it is that you do, you’re praying. 331 00:26:24,280 –> 00:26:31,040 And the question here then is, what happens when these people on earth pray? 332 00:26:31,040 –> 00:26:35,619 And scene three then takes us back up to heaven because we’re going to see what happens in 333 00:26:35,619 –> 00:26:38,920 heaven when these people are praying on earth. 334 00:26:38,920 –> 00:26:45,719 And what we discover here is that something very profound happens as these prayers ascend 335 00:26:45,719 –> 00:26:49,119 to the throne of God in heaven. 336 00:26:49,119 –> 00:26:56,939 Something happens to the prayers that makes them powerful and effective. 337 00:26:56,939 –> 00:26:58,180 And so scene three says this. 338 00:26:58,180 –> 00:27:01,699 Let me read verse three and four of Revelation chapter eight. 339 00:27:01,699 –> 00:27:10,400 Another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer and he was given much 340 00:27:10,400 –> 00:27:20,640 incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne. 341 00:27:20,640 –> 00:27:31,439 And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hands 342 00:27:31,439 –> 00:27:33,500 of the angel. 343 00:27:33,500 –> 00:27:37,180 Now what is being communicated here is that as these prayers, as it were, are ascending 344 00:27:37,180 –> 00:27:39,160 to God, they’re being mixed. 345 00:27:40,160 –> 00:27:48,459 They’re being mixed with something very sweet, they’re being mixed with incense as they ascend 346 00:27:48,459 –> 00:27:51,719 and rise before God. 347 00:27:51,719 –> 00:27:59,020 Now again, this is right out of the model that is given for us in the Old Testament 348 00:27:59,020 –> 00:28:04,920 to help us understand the realities of what actually happens in heaven. 349 00:28:05,160 –> 00:28:07,219 The angel has a censer. 350 00:28:07,219 –> 00:28:13,959 The censer was simply a round metal ball, a hollow ball, in which incense was put and 351 00:28:13,959 –> 00:28:15,040 it was on a chain. 352 00:28:15,040 –> 00:28:23,439 So that it could be swung so that sweet fragrance of incense would be spread around a room, 353 00:28:23,439 –> 00:28:28,180 so that air that was rather stale, perhaps would become beautiful and would become sweet 354 00:28:28,180 –> 00:28:30,500 and would become fresh. 355 00:28:30,500 –> 00:28:34,599 And this happened in the Old Testament, in the model. 356 00:28:35,119 –> 00:28:41,780 Aaron is to burn incense every morning and every evening because this place where God’s 357 00:28:41,780 –> 00:28:45,319 presence is going to be, it can’t be a place of stale air, it can’t be a place where there’s 358 00:28:45,319 –> 00:28:47,479 a stink. 359 00:28:47,479 –> 00:28:53,800 It has to be a place where everything that is stale and everything that stinks is overwhelmed 360 00:28:53,800 –> 00:28:57,540 by the sweetness of a better fragrance. 361 00:28:57,540 –> 00:29:03,380 And you will know that in liturgical churches today, you will still see priests swinging 362 00:29:03,439 –> 00:29:04,579 incense. 363 00:29:04,579 –> 00:29:07,439 It comes out of the Old Testament. 364 00:29:07,439 –> 00:29:12,719 The reason we don’t do it is that it’s simply a model to point us to the great thing that 365 00:29:12,719 –> 00:29:17,800 actually happens in heaven. 366 00:29:17,800 –> 00:29:24,380 And Revelation 8 is taking up this picture from the Old Testament and telling us this, 367 00:29:24,380 –> 00:29:29,000 now when your prayers arise to the throne of God, always remember this, that they are 368 00:29:29,599 –> 00:29:36,880 sprinkled with perfume on the way to the father. 369 00:29:36,880 –> 00:29:40,520 Now clearly this is a picture to convey to us something that otherwise would just be 370 00:29:40,520 –> 00:29:45,319 impossible for us to grasp, but think about this reality. 371 00:29:45,319 –> 00:29:49,560 When you pray, you feel that your prayers are so very inadequate. 372 00:29:49,560 –> 00:29:52,640 Am I asking for the right things? 373 00:29:52,640 –> 00:29:55,260 Am I asking in the right way? 374 00:29:55,459 –> 00:29:58,660 Am I asking with the right motives? 375 00:29:58,660 –> 00:30:05,680 And here we are being told, think about this, that our weak, stumbling and often feeble 376 00:30:05,680 –> 00:30:14,280 prayers are perfumed so that the stench of all that is stale and all that is unworthy 377 00:30:14,280 –> 00:30:19,819 and all that is confused and all that is foolish and all that is mistaken is actually taken 378 00:30:19,819 –> 00:30:22,000 out. 379 00:30:22,000 –> 00:30:24,380 It’s overwhelmed. 380 00:30:24,439 –> 00:30:34,040 Our prayers are sweetened by the Lord Himself and therefore made, despite the inadequacy 381 00:30:34,040 –> 00:30:41,839 that we see in them, made powerful and effective before the throne of God. 382 00:30:41,839 –> 00:30:44,640 Let me give you a very simple analogy. 383 00:30:44,640 –> 00:30:51,619 Some of you will have a fridge with a water filter, and you know what? 384 00:30:51,680 –> 00:30:56,280 That water that comes out is better than the water that goes in. 385 00:30:56,300 –> 00:30:58,339 And that’s really what we’re being told here. 386 00:30:58,339 –> 00:31:03,839 Your prayers go up, and what they are when they reach the throne of God is better than 387 00:31:03,839 –> 00:31:09,920 what they were when they left you, because you have a great intercessor, a high priest 388 00:31:09,920 –> 00:31:14,020 who is purifying, sweetening. 389 00:31:14,199 –> 00:31:17,719 John Ryder says, it is as though your prayers 390 00:31:17,739 –> 00:31:22,339 are taken through the very wounds of Jesus. 391 00:31:22,339 –> 00:31:27,660 And therefore, when they are presented to the Father, they have a fragrance that makes 392 00:31:27,660 –> 00:31:31,780 them altogether desirable before Him. 393 00:31:31,780 –> 00:31:36,579 Boy, if you take that truth into your mind, it’ll get you going in prayer. 394 00:31:36,579 –> 00:31:39,459 And you know it will keep you going in prayer when you feel that your own prayers aren’t 395 00:31:39,459 –> 00:31:40,920 up to much. 396 00:31:40,920 –> 00:31:43,680 Because you’ll say, Well, I don’t feel that this is up to much. 397 00:31:43,739 –> 00:31:46,900 Seeking to express to God what is on my heart 398 00:31:46,900 –> 00:31:48,219 the best that I’m able. 399 00:31:48,219 –> 00:31:52,660 But thank God that when the prayer gets up to the Father, it’s gonna be better than it 400 00:31:52,660 –> 00:31:55,000 is when it leaves me. 401 00:31:55,000 –> 00:31:59,339 Because the work of the great Intercessor every day on behalf of all of God’s children 402 00:31:59,339 –> 00:32:07,160 is this marvelous, marvelous work, to make our prayers, our weak stumbling prayers, effective 403 00:32:07,160 –> 00:32:11,260 before God, our Heavenly Father. 404 00:32:11,260 –> 00:32:12,579 And the camera keeps panning. 405 00:32:12,579 –> 00:32:16,359 It started with the silence in heaven, then the believers praying in the earth. 406 00:32:16,359 –> 00:32:20,219 Then what actually happens in heaven when the prayers are ascending to the Father, then 407 00:32:20,219 –> 00:32:22,540 it goes back one more time to earth. 408 00:32:22,540 –> 00:32:28,400 And we’re told this, then, see after the sweetened prayers of the saints have ascended 409 00:32:28,400 –> 00:32:32,560 to the Father, then the Angle took the Censor and filled it with fire from the altar and 410 00:32:32,560 –> 00:32:33,920 threw it on the earth. 411 00:32:33,920 –> 00:32:38,839 What we’re being told here is that things happen on earth as a result of the prayers 412 00:32:38,920 –> 00:32:43,640 of believers sweetened through Christ rising to heaven. 413 00:32:43,640 –> 00:32:48,079 And when you see that and when you believe that, you really will be motivated to pray 414 00:32:48,079 –> 00:32:54,040 even if you feel that you are not a very good prayer, even if you feel that you are an unworthy 415 00:32:54,040 –> 00:32:55,760 person to be praying. 416 00:32:55,760 –> 00:33:00,400 When you see that Jesus Christ is the Great High Priest and what he does in order to present 417 00:33:00,400 –> 00:33:06,160 you by name to te Father, he’s mine, I’m here for him, for her and that he sweetens 418 00:33:06,160 –> 00:33:07,599 your prayers. 419 00:33:07,599 –> 00:33:10,319 This is a truth that has the power to transform your prayer life. 420 00:33:10,319 –> 00:33:12,880 It really is. 421 00:33:12,880 –> 00:33:16,760 Your prayers count for far more in heaven than they seem to do from your perspective 422 00:33:16,760 –> 00:33:18,680 on earth. 423 00:33:18,680 –> 00:33:23,939 What you don’t see is what Jesus does with your prayers on the way up. 424 00:33:23,939 –> 00:33:32,199 By the way, this is what it means to pray in the name of Jesus. 425 00:33:32,199 –> 00:33:37,880 Don’t ever think that in the name of Jesus is just a formula, that you stick on the end 426 00:33:37,880 –> 00:33:39,880 of your prayers. 427 00:33:39,880 –> 00:33:50,000 You pray to the father, and when you pray you pray to our Father. 428 00:33:50,000 –> 00:33:56,079 You pray in the name of Jesus Christ, and when we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, 429 00:33:56,079 –> 00:33:57,339 what does that actually mean? 430 00:33:57,339 –> 00:33:59,680 What are you saying? 431 00:33:59,680 –> 00:34:02,099 You’re saying this. 432 00:34:02,099 –> 00:34:10,020 You are invoking the work of Jesus Christ in relation to the prayer that you are offering 433 00:34:10,020 –> 00:34:14,459 so that, when it arrives in the presence of God, it will be more than it was when it left 434 00:34:14,459 –> 00:34:15,459 you. 435 00:34:15,459 –> 00:34:18,540 That’s huge. 436 00:34:18,540 –> 00:34:25,000 I want this prayer to go to the Father through Jesus Christ and to be presented to the Father 437 00:34:25,000 –> 00:34:31,199 by Jesus Christ and therefore to be sweeter than it was in all of its stumbling foolishness 438 00:34:31,239 –> 00:34:35,919 when it left my lips or my mind or my heart. 439 00:34:35,919 –> 00:34:39,120 This is why your prayers carry weight with God because they’re in the name of Jesus. 440 00:34:39,120 –> 00:34:44,739 Take Jesus out and we’re only left with our own foolishness that’s hardly going to penetrate 441 00:34:44,739 –> 00:34:45,739 anywhere. 442 00:34:46,179 –> 00:34:51,739 Thank God that we’re able to pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 443 00:34:51,739 –> 00:34:55,979 So, this is why Hebrews, Chapter 4, which is where we began, says this. 444 00:34:56,139 –> 00:35:00,040 We have a great High Priest. 445 00:35:00,040 –> 00:35:04,899 We have Jesus who does this work of intercession for us. 446 00:35:04,899 –> 00:35:05,919 He does it every day. 447 00:35:05,919 –> 00:35:09,780 He’s not like the Old Testament priest who kept dying and needed to be replaced. 448 00:35:09,780 –> 00:35:15,260 He’s alive in heaven and it is his great work to represent us before the Father, to present 449 00:35:15,260 –> 00:35:21,000 us in himself to the Father, to supply everything that we need and to sweeten our prayers through 450 00:35:21,280 –> 00:35:27,399 all the merits of his blood and of his sacrifice to make us and our prayers presentable before 451 00:35:27,399 –> 00:35:28,719 God. 452 00:35:28,719 –> 00:35:35,000 And because we have a great High Priest, that’s why we shouldn’t be shrinking back and saying, 453 00:35:35,000 –> 00:35:36,000 well, who am I to pray? 454 00:35:36,000 –> 00:35:37,000 I’m so unworthy. 455 00:35:37,000 –> 00:35:41,120 There’s no point in me praying because I only stumble around and I don’t really know what 456 00:35:41,120 –> 00:35:42,120 I’m doing. 457 00:35:42,120 –> 00:35:43,120 No, you have a great High Priest. 458 00:35:43,120 –> 00:35:50,919 If you belong to Jesus Christ, then you can come to God with confidence because of your 459 00:35:50,919 –> 00:35:52,399 great High Priest. 460 00:35:52,399 –> 00:35:58,540 With confidence, therefore, let us draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive 461 00:35:58,540 –> 00:36:06,639 mercy and find grace to help us in time of need. 462 00:36:07,620 –> 00:36:14,719 Take this wonderful truth of the Intercessory Ministry of Jesus Christ and use it to make 463 00:36:14,719 –> 00:36:18,679 us people who pray. 464 00:36:18,679 –> 00:36:26,040 Bring us to the place where knowing that you are our wonderful Father, we have that desire. 465 00:36:26,040 –> 00:36:32,379 And bring us to the place where knowing that Jesus Christ is our great Intercessor and 466 00:36:32,459 –> 00:36:40,139 have the confidence to draw near in the full assurance of faith and therefore to receive 467 00:36:40,139 –> 00:36:47,899 mercy and to find all the grace that we need to help us in our times of need. 468 00:36:47,899 –> 00:36:53,580 Hear our prayer, because we bring it in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and everyone 469 00:36:53,580 –> 00:36:55,280 together said Amen.